Paul’s Grief for Israel
…set them free from dangers, how will he not also, with him, give us all things (Romans 8:32)? “Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen? It is God who justifies; who is the one who condemns?” (Romans 8:33–34). Perhaps Paul, with a wise purpose, does not let the minds of the called fall into helplessness, but teaches that they will be set free from their former sins and will be justified, as God grants it. For although every sin involves a transgression of the divine law and condemns the careless, yet if the Lord of the law himself forgives, who is the one who condemns the sinner?
“I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears witness with me” (Romans 9:1). In the beginning God made Israel his chosen one and even called him firstborn (Exodus 4:22). But they became boastful and insolent, and, what goes beyond even this, slayers of the Lord. That is why they have perished; for they have been sent away and cast out, and, having slipped wholly from their closeness to God, they have been placed behind the nations; and they have shown themselves strangers to the hope of the fathers.
Now the blessed Paul had been appointed a minister of the divine gospel and was proclaiming Jesus to the nations. Again and again he said that those of Israel’s blood had fallen away, and he insisted that those who were once in darkness and served demons had become called according to the purpose and foreknowledge of God. So that none of the less instructed might think he was all but leaping on his own kin as they lay fallen, and smiling over their fall, he makes a necessary defense and says, “I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying,” and what follows (Romans 9:1).
Over those who have gone so far in perversity as to slip from their love for God, and then to suffer harsh penalties for it, one might well grieve; and to shed a tear for them out of fellow feeling would not be beyond reason; or rather, it is the fullness of love. But to wish even to be accursed from Christ on their behalf (Romans 9:3) goes beyond the measures of love. For no one, if he is in his right mind, would choose to offend God for the sake of the salvation of others, counting his own life as nothing while choosing that others should have it.
What, then, does he mean in putting forward his own salvation as the price of the salvation of the Jews? The statement is a hyperbole, and it gives proof of the most perfect love. “For I could wish,” he says, “that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers” (Romans 9:3). It is as if he were saying, “If Israel were saved by my offending Christ, I myself would have chosen it.” He who said to those justified in faith, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2); he who proclaims to all, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35): to undergo so dreadful an evil, and one on behalf of…
Greek
ἀπαλλάξῃ κινδύνων, πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαριεῖται; Τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ; Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν, τίς ὁ κατακρίνων; Τάχα δὲ καὶ οἰκονομικῶς ὁ Παῦλος οὐκ ἐᾷ τὸν νοῦν τῶν κεκλημένων εἰς ἀμηχανίαν ἐμπεσεῖν, ἀλλὰ διδάσκει ὅτι τῶν μὲν ἀρχαίων ἁμαρτιῶν ἐλευθερωθήσονται, δικαιωθήσονται δὲ, Θεοῦ κατανεύοντος. εἰ γὰρ καὶ πᾶσα ἁμαρτία τοῦ θείου νόμου παράβασιν ἔχει καὶ κατακρίνει τὸν ῥαθυμοῦντα, ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ νόμου Κύριος συγχωρεῖ, τίς ὁ κατακρίνων τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα; 223 Ἀλήθειαν λέγω ἐν Χριστῷ, οὐ ψεύδομαι, συμμαρτυρούσης μοι τῆς συνειδήσεώς μου. Ἀπόλεκτον μὲν ἐποιεῖτο Θεὸς ἐν ἀρχαῖς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ δὴ καὶ πρωτότοκον αὐτὸν ἀπεκάλει· ἀλλὰ γεγόνασιν ἀλαζόνες καὶ ὑβρισταὶ, καὶ τὸ ἔτι τούτων ἐπέκεινα κυριοκτόνοι· ταύτῃτοι διολώλασι, γεγόνασι γὰρ ἀπόπεμπτοι καὶ ἐξεῤῥιμμένοι, καὶ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν οἰκειότητος εἰς ἅπαν ὠλισθηκότες, τέθεινται κατόπιν ἐθνῶν· πεφήνασι δὲ καὶ τῆς τῶν πατέρων ἐλπίδος ἀλλότριοι. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων τέθειται λειτουργὸς, καὶ διεκήρυττε τοῖς ἔθνεσιν τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω τοὺς ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραὴλ ἀποπεπτωκέναι λέγων, καὶ τοὺς ἐν σκότῳ ποτὲ καὶ τῶν δαιμονίων θεραπευτὰς κλητοὺς γενέσθαι κατὰ πρόθεσιν καὶ πρόγνωσιν Θεοῦ διισχυριζόμενος, ἵνα μή τινες οἴωνται τῶν ἀμαθεστέρων μονονουχὶ κειμένοις καὶ ἐνάλλεσθαι τοῖς ἐκ γένους αὐτὸν, καὶ πεσοῦσιν ἐπιμειδιᾶν, ἀναγκαίαν ποιεῖται τὴν ἀπολογίαν καί φησιν Ἀλήθειαν λέγω ἐν Χριστῷ, οὐ ψεύδομαι, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν εἰς τοῦτο σκαιότητος ἐκπεφοιτηκόσιν, ὡς τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπης ἀπολισθεῖν, σκληράς τε τὰς ἐπὶ τούτῳ λοιπὸν ἀνατλῆναι δίκας, ἐπιστυγνάσειεν ἄν τις· καὶ τὸ ἐκ φιλαλληλίας αὐτοῖς ἐπιστάξαι δάκρυον εἴη ἂν οὐ πέρα λόγου, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ἀγάπης τὴν πλήρωσιν ἔχει· τό γε δὴ καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀνάθεμα θέλειν εἶναι ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, μέτρων ἐπέκεινα τῶν ἀγάπης λοιπόν· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἕλοιτό τις εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἐν καλῷ φρενὸς, τῆς ἑτέρων ἕνεκα σωτηρίας προσκρούειν Θεῷ, καὶ ποιεῖσθαι μὲν παρ' οὐδὲν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ζωὴν, ἑτέροις γεμὴν τὸ χρῆμα ἐνεῖναι ἑλεῖν. 224 Τί οὖν ἄρα φησὶ, τῆς Ἰουδαίων σωτηρίας ἀντάλλαγμα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προτιθείς; οὐκοῦν ὑπερβολικὸς ὁ λόγος, καὶ ἀγάπης ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει τῆς τελεωτάτης· ηὐχόμην γάρ φησιν ἀνάθεμα εἶναι αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου· ὅμοιον γὰρ ὡς εἴπερ λέγοι Εἰ προσκεκρουκότος ἐμοῦ τῷ Χριστῷ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἀνασώζεται, εἱλόμην ἂν αὐτὸς ἐγώ· ὁ καὶ τοῖς ἐν πίστει δεδικαιωμένοις εἰπών "Οὐ γὰρ ἔκρινά τι "εἰδέναι ἐν ὑμῖν, εἰ μὴ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, καὶ τοῦτον ἐσταυ"ρωμένον," ὁ πᾶσι διακηρύττων "Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ "τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; θλίψις ἢ στενοχωρία ἢ διωγμὸς "ἢ λιμὸς ἢ γυμνότης ἢ κίνδυνος ἢ μάχαιρα;" τὸ οὕτω δεινὸν ὑποστῆναι κακὸν, καὶ εἷς ὑπὲρ 21